Page 35 of The Work Husband

Then we saw a tall woman in a cream shift dress approaching us and stopped talking just in time.

‘Good afternoon, Mr Baldwin and Ms Meadows.’ Smiling, she extended her hand for us to shake. ‘I’m Patrizia, and I’d just like to say how delighted we are to have representatives of Devereaux Partners here at Hadleigh Hall.’

‘We’re delighted to be here.’ Jamie seemed to have regained his normal composure.

‘We would very much like you to experience everything this property has to offer,’ Patrizia went on. ‘I’m sure you’d like to go up to your rooms in just a moment, but perhaps you’d like to have lunch in an hour or so? And then I can give you a little tour.’

See? I glanced sideways at Jamie. It’s going to be nose to the grindstone.

‘That sounds lovely,’ I said.

‘But above all’ – Patrizia gave a hundred-watt smile – ‘we hope you will enjoy Hadleigh Hall and the hospitality we offer here as our guests. So after you’ve had a little look around, please feel free to relax and have fun. We’d love to offer you a spa treatment, and of course dinner is on us.’

That’s more like it, Jamie’s eyes said.

‘And tomorrow, there’s all the facilities for you to explore. The leisure centre, the golf course, the gardens, even horse riding. We hope you’ll treat this as your home for the weekend, as all our guests do.’

‘We will,’ I promised. ‘Thank you so much for inviting us.’

‘And now my colleague Juan will show you to your rooms. Your reservation for lunch is at one thirty.’

A few minutes later, I was standing on a polished parquet floor looking out between cream velvet curtains at a rose garden in full bloom. Beyond it, I could see a lake with a few swans gliding over its surface, and on the far side of that were rolling hills. The bed was vast and surrounded by white muslin drapes. The air smelled of the expensive toiletries I’d sampled in the bathroom. My case had even been unpacked and the dress I’d planned to wear to dinner taken away to be steamed.

I allowed my mind to reach out to the poor girl on minimum wage who’d be standing, right at that moment, in a cramped, humid laundry room wondering how the hell she’d get through all the ironing she needed to do and cursing the addition of my dress.

I was you not so long ago, I thought. I really hope one day you’ll be me too.

My mind flitted to Zahra. Perhaps one day I’d arrange for her to stay here, able to recommend the place from personal experience. If I did, I hoped she would arrive with a suitcase full of fabulous, sexy clothes and a man she really fancied.

There was a tap on my door, and I turned to open it, half-expecting fresh bottles of water or a top-up of my already perilously overloaded fruit bowl. But it was only Jamie.

‘I just had to check you didn’t get a better room than me.’ He flopped spread-eagled on my bed, giving a couple of bounces to test its springiness. ‘But you didn’t.’

‘Yours had better not be bigger,’ I said, ‘or I’ll make you swap.’

He sat up and looked around. ‘Pretty much identical. Only I’ve got a free-standing bath instead of one with jets.’

‘Hmmm. Okay, you can keep yours.’

‘Maybe we could try them both. They’re big enough for two. Think bottle of champagne, the sun setting over the lake, frangipane-scented bubbles everywhere, you and me in the⁠—’

‘Jamie, stop this!’ I put my hands on my hips, keeping my voice stern. ‘Come on. You know it’s not real. It’s just a game – a joke – a thing to wind Sam up. It isn’t happening.’

‘You should’ve let me finish.’

‘Why? What were you going to say?’

‘I was going to say, and then Sam bursts in through the door, tries to drown me in the bath, I escape through the window and flee down the drive bollock-naked, then he goes down on one knee to propose to you. Job done. But you ruined the moment.’

In spite of myself, I laughed. ‘Okay, fine. But it’s still not going to happen. Should we head down for lunch?’

‘Yeah, let’s. I’m starving.’ He smiled, and the awkwardness that had sprung up between us melted away again.

‘Do you think we need to change?’

‘We’ve only got five minutes.’

I looked at my watch and saw that he was right. ‘Okay then. We’d better be on best behaviour while we get the singing-for-our-supper bit out of the way.’